the knitty gritty

Soundtrack for this post: the Six Feet Under soundtrack volume 2

Someone please comment to an entry! Please?

Down to business. Parker, you'll be happy to know that your knitting needle case has spurred me to pick up the sticks and start manipulating yarn again (despite a little warm spell here). Even added a new pair of needles to my collection today too, size 7s. I'm excited about my current project, and you'll see a pic up on my Flickr portfolio when it's done. But I was not excited about dropping a pretty penny on yarn. I totally need a Michael's in my neighborhood.

cooking with cats, not cooking cats

Aren't these the cutest things? I love Susie of boygirlparty's stuff so much, and Parker is well aware of this fact!

I heart Yoshi the cat

I was trying to find a rockin' printable calendar for the month of January, but I wasn't having much luck. Finally I resorted to the old standby of printing out a month from Microsoft Outlook. But I found this in a Google search, and seriously, it is one of the funniest things, maybe not ever, but at least of this year so far. My favorites are the Princess Leia and Jackie Kennedy ones.

Poor tannenbaums

I feel bad for discarded Christmas trees, just lying there on the cold dirty sidewalk. They only get their day in the sun for a few weeks, and then they're tossed out. Poor things.

Also, I am convinced that someday I will meet my maker via death by bicycle. No, I won't be riding the bicycle, but I will crash into a psycho delivery person on one. Those guys are nuts. Anyone who wants to ride a bicycle in the city, usually without a helmet, is out of his mind. Traffic light? What's that? Pedestrian? Eh, whatever. Yes, mark my words: death by delivery person on a bicycle.

Now that Christmas and New Year's are over, we have Valentine's Day to look forward to. Sarcasm. Shopping is annoying, especially at places like drug stores and Target/Wal-Marts because of all the holiday product pushes. Ugh.

The coat floats my boat

Is is possible to want to marry a coat? Well, the L.L. Bean Ultrawarm Long coat makes me want to propose; I'm so in love. It's lightweight, soft, and warm! It has all these thoughtful extras, like how you can zip off the fake fur, remove the hood, there are flannel cuffs at the end of the sleeves, and even a cell phone pocket inside. Those are just some of the fine features of this Arctic attire. Plus, a lady in the library said to me, "Cute coat!" today. How did I ever live without this thing before? Lord only knows.

Things I Want

First post of the year! Happy 2008! No one asked me about my new year's resolutions. Fine by me, I think they're not my bag. Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. Can't believe another holiday season has come and gone. Yipes, where does the time go?

Agent 007 and I went to go see the play Things We Want Off-Broadway, just a little over a month ago. [Ed. note: the play recently closed, so you can't go see it.] The play stars indie darlings Peter Dinklage, Paul Dano, and Josh Hamilton, with up-and-comer Zoe Kazan as the only woman in the small cast. We had front row seats, extreme stage left. Not that the theater was that big, but it was still cool to sit in the front row. The actors are only steps away, and sometimes they look at you. Neato! The play itself was all right, not quite neato. The actors are all excellent and work the zingy dialog, with Peter Dinklage the standout. Not to give that much away, but the act I and act II dichotomies are just a bit too convenient to be that realistic. Not really a cheerer upper.

After the show, 007 and I tag teamed to stalk the actors and managed to snag pics and autographs on our programs. They were all nice folks, though in somewhat of a hurry, some to smoke, I think. Paul Dano seems a little shy-ish, but he is adorable and has beautiful hair. Our first actor stalking attempt went relatively well. Next one will be better.

Will there be blood?

I can't decide if I have any interest in the upcoming release There Will Be Blood. It's directed by Paul Thomas Anderson; I have never seen any of his films. That's a feat to be proud of, no? Two of my friends talked about this movie, not expressing explicit interest either. It's got that indie cutie Paul Dano as well as Daniel Day-Lewis. The music kicks all sorts of butt too, composed by Radiohead's instrumental wizard Jonny Greenwood, who appeared in a recent wizard movie by the name of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

I fear that this blog is turning into one where I post movie trailers and muse about the quality of the feature. I think I'm more interested in the tantalizingly creepy stringed score than the story. Parker, doesn't Dano's character remind you of that House episode with the teenage preacher?

Top Chefed at sassy Perilla

My delightful brunch companion Agent007 and I were lucky enough to have a meal at the West Village hotspot Perilla, best known as Top Chef Harold Dieterle's restaurant. Of course, being the TVphobe reality show disliker that I am, I did not know this until Agent007 informed me of this fact. The restaurant is tucked away on a calmer street of the West Village. The sweet hostess sat us right away even though we were early (it wasn't crowded yet). The restaurant is on the smaller side, with three different dining areas: tables by the bar (where we were seated), some U-shaped booths in the middle, and smaller table/booths in the back. I had the poached eggs, wonderful! 007 and I shared spiced fries and bacon, also the opposite of letdowns. Top Chef enthusiast 007 was bummed not to see the man himself bustling about the tables. But then her mood did a 180 when she happily informed me that she just spotted the chef, and Harold was at the bar. I didn't know what he looked like, so she had to tell me which guy he was. We weren't super close to Harold, but then Parker later told me that he is a hottie, and I can see that. Looks aside, the food is top notch, and we highly recommend Perilla!

Just for Parker, here's a picture link to HD's MySpace.

Mamma Mia!

The Golden Globe nominations were announced today. That movie I blogged about a long time ago, Atonement, got a heap of noms. Once there was a fluff interview with James McAvoy in my Newsweek, and it went on about how attractive he was, and I don't see his appeal. Then again, there are lots of heartthrobs and hot women who I think aren't beautiful at all. But I do have odd taste sometimes. I would post a photo, but I don't want to waste blog space with Britain's answer to Tobey Maguire.

Anyway, the first teaser for Mamma Mia! came out, and it looks cute enough. Agent99 will have to chime in here, since she's the only one to have seen the stage show. I haven't seen it [yet]. Parker, you should consider it. It has the dead Lilly from Veronica Mars (aka Karen from Mean Girls), thespian Meryl Streep, and Mr. Darcy. And lush Greek locales.
If the video below isn't showing up, click this link: http://www.cinematical.com/2007/12/13/first-look-mamma-mia-trailer/

Natalee Holloway

I don't even have to watch Law & Order: SVU when I can turn to the news for just as interesting mysteries.

One case that's been of interest due to some recent developments is the case of Natalee Holloway. Agent99 and Parker, does she still get a lot of buzz in the Ham? After two years, I think it's pretty safe to say that she's no longer alive. The Dutch kid seems to be on the taciturn side, not vehemently denying his innocence. Or perhaps the Dutch are less vocal? The whole thing is a little shady. Maybe Natalee drowned or something. Who knows.

Ultra Clutch Hairspray

I was a little worried before going to see Hairspray that it would be too much like the recently released movie but I was worried for nothing as certain aspects were dead same, but there were enough differences to keep me engaged. It's a color fiesta, song and dance buffet! It'll make you happy. The Tracy Turnblad, Shannon Durig, is golden, and most of the supporting cast is strong too.

Hey Agent 99, The Alien played Corny Collins and he was okay but his speaking voice didn't seem as loud as the other actors. James Marsden wins in that competition. And then Ashley Parker Angel from that lame MTV show we watched once at your house played Link Larkin. He's not much of an actor too. Link isn't supposed to be that deep, but I think he got beat by Zac Efron.

Has anyone noticed that James Marsden seems to play the blandly handsome cuckolded boyfriend in lots of movies? X-Men, Superman Returns, The Notebook, and I guess Enchanted. That must be his specialty.

Cat chat

This is such an adorable video. I hope my co-bloggers like it if they haven't seen it before. Sometimes I am a little behind the times. The family cat used to talk to herself but now she doesn't do that much. Funny. I wish I had a cat!

a real Hottie Hotpants

I am very mildly obsessed with the Broadway musical Xanadu. Hey, it's campy and very tongue-in-cheek and family friendly and funny and has the mark of Olivia Newton-John and has catchy tunes and gives out glowsticks. How come I am the only one who seems to know how to use a glowstick? Anyway, the first time I saw the show, an understudy (the cutie Curtis Holbrook) went on for the lead (the smokin' Cheyenne Jackson), Sonny Malone, the struggling dim artist. We were all disappointed that the lead was out, but the understudy was fabuloso. The second time I saw Xanadu, I introduced an old friend into the fold (Hi D!) and we were fortunate enough that Cheyenne was not out. At the end of the show, he wears some satin booty shorts and they are not long at all. And it hit me: Cheyenne Jackson is a true Hottie Hotpants! HH is Agent99's term for a super attractive fella. I just like saying Hottie Hotpants. And I got my picture taken with this handsome man. I am happy.

In case you're wondering, the infamously bad Xanadu movie is not as rotten as you would expect. Olivia is winsome but the guy who plays Sonny couldn't act his way out of a brown paper bag. The soundtrack is rad and is one of its saving graces. Poor Gene Kelly. I wonder how he got roped into doing Xanadu?

I might be motivated enough to post my other celebrity encounters from this weekend. Stay tuned.

The strike is outta here

The Broadway stagehand strike ended yesterday! Yay, just in the nick of time. I am a happy camper.

Hey Parker, did you see the latest episode of House? Sad, no new episodes until 2008. Maybe we can discuss it in a new post or something. Perhaps I will post the smokin' Hugh Laurie picture again. My HDTV friend and I think Dr. Thirteen is purdy.

Rammer Jammer

Just Watch!

Strike one, strike two

As many of you know, there are two entertainment-related strikes going on at the moment. One is the writer's strike affecting television shows and another is the stagehand's strike affecting Broadway shows. I don't know too much about the writer's strike seeing as I barely watch any television but maybe Parker cares enough to help me out here as I know this is a cause near and dear to her heart. I personally am closely watching the stagehand strike since I have tickets to Hairspray next week and am biting my nails practically, hoping the show will go on. Strikes are no fun for anyone. Let's think good thoughts that everything will be resolved favorably for all sides.

P.S. Both Hairspray movies are buckets o' fun. Watch one today!

Evite etiquette

As a recipient and also a distributor of Evite invitations, I've been thinking about proper protocol for responses. Yet, I'm not the only one, as evidenced by a quick Google search. Hey, if the blog from the all mighty Evite tells you to RVSP, RVSP! It only takes a second or two, honestly. Word to the wise: the host[ess] can see if you've looked at the invitation, so don't try and pull that "I never got it!" trick.

Happy Turducken Day!

Recently I've been hearing a lot about turduckens. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, a turducken is turkey stuffed with duck stuffed with chicken. And this fowl mutant is thought to be of Cajun origin. Hmm, now I must try this someday, along with deep fried turkey (thanks, southern roots) but not tofurkey, which I've heard is gross. Ooh, there was a bird consisting of 17 birds! Read the turducken entry and look at bustergophechiduckneaealcockidgeoverwingailusharkolanbler.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Smells like a headache

I'm highly sensitive to strong smells, especially chemical ones. Department store perfume counters are mortal enemies. Friday was a painful day in that regard. I went shopping and in my travels, I keep ending up walking behind smokers puffing on their nicotine dispensers. Thus the smoke went up my nostrils and gave me that mild throbbing pre-headache feel. Then I wondered why it seemed like an excessive number of people were smoking? Does cold windy weather promote lighting up? Argh. Smoking should just be banned everywhere. For my health and sanity. And there'd be one less thing that I would complain about.

I don't know if you're familiar with this store, but Lush is a British import much in the vein of The Body Shop, but a lot more aggressive maybe? More in-your-face and modern perhaps. I've only stepped foot in one of these stores in San Francisco, and that was enough for life. The smells are so overpowering that I got the headache sensation again, plus the employees didn't seem too friendly (an accusation I've hurled at H&M before). Friday I merely walked by the store and its open door and got the painful head feelings. Darn store. That's why The Body Shop is tops in my book and Lush and the lame Bath and Body Works are lower tier.

Promises that I couldn't keep

Well, I said I'd tell you about the Ryan Adams concert so here goes. On October 15 (which doesn't seem like a month ago) I went to see Ryan Adams at the Alabama Theatre. The venue was cool, I had never been there. It reminds me of a smaller version of the Fox in Atlanta. The show was good! He played a great mix of songs and we got to hear 4 (maybe 5, I can't remember) of his songs from the new album, Easy Tiger. I could have gone home after he sang, "Please do not let me go" and been happy, but the show only got better after that! In typical form he had a mild temper tantrum. Most of the audience would yell at him to play particular songs when he finished singing. He finally got fed up and put his head on the piano while the lead guitarist explained they were going to stick with the set list. After playing, "What sin replaces love" he left the stage. My friend and I waited for a good 10-15 minutes, but alas there was no encore. Ryan's temper got the best of him I guess.

I'm glad I had the chance to go see him play live, but I wish he would like his fans more. Love the music not the man I guess...